JULY 13 READING…1 CORINTHIANS 5
In today’s reading the Apostle Paul deals with overt sin within the church itself. He calls the church to action when it comes to sin within the church. He even astonished at the level of sin that has been either accepted, or intentionally ignored in the church. He says that this sin rises to the place that even the unbelieving world would consider it an awful act. A man is committing adultery with his father’s wife…and incredibly no one is doing anything about it. If the church is a biblical church we are accountable to one another. There is a biblical expectation the exist in a proper Christian church that requires that members act in a godly and biblical matter. If they don’t, it is incumbent on the church to deal with the member who in living in sin. Purity, holiness, should be a characteristic of every church that names Jesus as Lord. J. Vernon McGee said, “A pure church is a powerful church; an impure church is a paralyzed church.” How we act does matter. In verse 5 Paul directs them to hand this overt offender to be handed over to Satan to face the consequences of his actions. If he is genuinely and biblically saved, he will be saved eternally, but in this life, he will have to deal with the consequences of his choice to continue in sin. The church must be accountable to the Lord first, then to each other…because the church must remain pure and holy. If not, it will lose its testimony to a world that needs Jesus.
Paul tells the church not to keep company, associate with, or have fellowship with sexually immoral people in the church. This includes those involved in pre-martial sex, adultery, cohabitation, and homosexuality…this instruction is concerning those involved in these sexual sins committed in the church. We must remain in contact with people outside the church…even those who are living in sinful lifestyles, for that includes all unbelievers outside the church. Lost people will act like lost people…Christians should not act like the lost world. If we are going to reach the lost with the Gospel, we must spend time with them to do so. Those outside the church are judged already…we are required to evaluated each other’s behavior in the church and call each other to holy living.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW'S READING…1 CORINTHIANS 6